As many as 400 boaters and co-anglers will take off Saturday on Lake Dardanelle in the fourth of five Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) Arkie Division fishing tournaments. They will compete for top awards of $9,500 for boaters and $3,000 for co-anglers.

The Lake Dardanelle BFL tournament is being hosted by the Russellville Advertising and Promotion Commission.

Dover's Ray Scheide, Blue Painter's Tape pro and Dover High School Fishing Club advisor, said the lake has been fishing well.

"The lake's been coming back strong and even with the rain and flooding the fishing's been real phenomenal," he said. "Topwater frogs, ChatterBaits and flipping are going to dominate the shallow bite, but it could be a good ledge bite as well."

Terrence Narveson of get5bass.com, Russellville's highest rated angler in the Arkie Division at No. 31, said he thought the lake has been a little bit tricky as of late.

"The were in the grass really good and now it seems like they're pulling off the drops," he said. "Sometimes when you're fishing drops it's a hit-or-miss type of situation. A lot of it comes down to timing."

Narveson added he's not too caught up with the home-lake advantage he and his fellow local anglers will have this weekend.

"You always have the home lake threat of being either really good or really bad, I guess," he said. "It can (be an advantage), but it's a big body of water. There's so much stuff going on, it's almost like you have too many things to do as a home-water person."

Narveson added that a lot of times, local anglers will hit their favorite spots as opposed to finding where the fish are actually at.

"We're hitting holes that we've been fishing for the last 15-20 years so you end up fishing on history instead of fishing to the conditions of the lake and the day," he continued. "That can hurt you and bring you down really fast."

Takeoffs and weigh-ins will be at Lake Dardanelle State Park. Takeoff is scheduled for 6 a.m. while weigh-in will begin at 2 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.